St. Lucie School Board to hear comments on proposed budget cuts

FORT PIERCE — At 6 p.m. Thursday, the St. Lucie County School Board will hold a town hall meeting to get community input on proposed budget cuts.

The meeting will be held in Fort Pierce Central High’s auditorium.

“This is not a debate. This is for a variety of individuals in the community to be able to speak to the board and express their wishes and desires,” Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon said. “Hopefully many of the people who come to speak will come with ‘have you thought of’ or have a different slant to something that creates some thinking about something in a different way.”

Faced with a $15 million shortfall, school officials have proposed a menu of budget cut options that include closing two schools, consolidating magnet school programs and eliminating school librarians. The menu of budget cut options and cost savings developed by district officials totals approximately $27.9 million.

School officials are encouraging community members to log on to the district’s website stlucieschools.org to learn more about the menu of cost-cutting strategies and to give input. The district has also set up an email account — budget@stlucieschools.org — where community members can submit suggestions even if they cannot make it to the meeting.